Artist paints-an overview and preliminary studies of durability

This paper is divided into two parts: (I) an overview of artist paints with emphasis on durability issues and (II) a progress report on research aimed at optimizing acrylic resins for artist paints. In Part I we describe the major types of artist paints (oils and acrylics) and discuss contemporary technical issues. In Part II we address questions that are unique to artist paints, such as “How can you design a paint to last for 5000 years”? and “If you had it, how could you test it”? Our research on these issues has focused on design, synthesis, and testing of acrylic latex resins for optimum longevity. The results suggest that latex copolymers of n-butyl methacrylate, n-butyl acrylate, and methacrylic acid are attractive candidates for use in artist paints. Other components, such as wet adhesion promoters, appear undesirable. A detailed procedure for synthesis of a prototype latex is provided. Our conclusions are based mainly on current theories of weatherability and on decades of information for a variety of acrylic paints reported in the literature. Our own test results, while imprecise and preliminary, are consistent with literature expectations. Various test methods were explored; the rates of hydroperoxide formation and of weight loss during QUV-A exposure appear useful.